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Farmers Suicides in India.

Article · February 2013

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 Farmer suicides:

Transitional costs for Indian society , as a result of policy

changes of 1990.
- Nitin chowdary Pavuluri

Abstract

Today the country is growing at a double digit GDP. But the same time there are thousands of
farmers who are committing suicides every single year. This is at such a rate that, a popular
newspaper in south India (Eenadu – Telugu daily) maintains a count of how many farmers
commit suicide every day. Ironically this column exists along with the Sensex rate. This is sad
state of affairs which is existing in the country . I feel that, for every farmer who commits suicide,
the country is falling one step down.

This paper aims at looking into the various causes for these suicides and the structural change
which has taken place during the 1990 that has created such a sad state of affirms . And the
deaths of every such farmer are the transitional cost which the country is paying.

Introduction-

A peculiar feature of Indian farmers is that they are the price-takers both form the input and form
the output market side. Because of this reason, the farmers are pushed to such a state that, the
input costs & the cost of credit are so high, while the output prices are very low, as result there is
a decline in profitability and returns from cultivation. As a known fact, agriculture in India is
referred to as “gamble of the monsoon”, which means it‟s too much dependent on nature i.e the
irrigation facilities are under developed.

Broadly the problems in Indian agriculture can be scaled down to the following:

1) An excessive dependence of a large section of the population on agriculture i.e nearly two
thirds of the population1
2) Consistent decline in the size-class of holding and an increasing preponderance of marginal
holdings along with poor returns from cultivation indicates that income for farm
households is very low.
3) Green revolution had a greater focus on rice and wheat under irrigated condition bypassing
crops and regions under rained or dry land conditions There has been a failure to capitalize
on the vast network of institutes to provide and regulate new technology (including the
usage of biotechnology), and a virtual absence of extension service.

1
Agriculture census., government of India , (Http://Agcensus.Nic.In/ )
 4) The neglect of agriculture in plan resource allocation has led to a decline of public
investments in irrigation and other related infrastructure.
5) Supply of credit from formal sources to the agricultural sector is inadequate leading to
greater reliance on informal sources at higher interest burden.
6) Changing technology and market conditions are exposing the farmer to the uncertainties of
the product as well as factor markets. 2

In short the risks involved in Indian agriculture are income, yield, price, input, technology and
credit3.

These factors push the farmers into various economic, social, political, individual and
environmental crises which are forcing the farmers to commit suicides. This number has recently
been skyrocketing post 1990, i.e. the period when the economy has been opened for the global
markets. This has been majority in the Big five states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Maharashtra Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh.

There has been a huge transactional step taken up by the state, which is the opening up of
domestic markets for the global competition. And further in the paper we would see the cost the
society and the economy is paying as result of the transactional step towards globalisation.
Especially for a country which is not ready to cope up with the global markets.

Effects of Liberalization on Farmers’ Life.

Suicides of farmers which are complex and manifold, are caused by various reasons which can
be traced back to encomia and policy changes during 1990‟s

Indebtedness of farmers is one of the main issues driving them to commit suicide. Problem starts
off with availability of timely credit. Banking sector is not ready to provide credit /loan to
Agriculture for avoiding risk. With the Breakdown of formal credit structures will make the
farmers to increased reliance on informal sectors.. Agriculture always has demanded for the last
minute credit, and last minute credit comes at higher rates because of the classic demand theory
the more the demand higher the price. The banks play no role in this , as it is not possible to get
credit from banks informal sources of credit come only with greater interest burden .leading the
farmers to a vicious circle of private debt . Farmers want credit for buying seeds, pesticides and
other major inputs .huge amounts of credit is also taken by them for installing tube wells. Well
we can see credit is needed by them in every aspect they work in. there is a further lack of credit
availability for small farmers. Whatever available is of very high interest? This has been reported

2
Srijit Mishra, “Risks, Farmers‟ Suicides And Agrarian Crisis In India: Is There A Way Out?”, Keynote Paper For
The Theme “Risk Management In Agriculture/Rural Sector” For Presentation At The 67th Annual Conference Of
The Indian Society Of Agricultural Economics (Isae) To Be Held Under The Auspices Of Bankers Institute Of Rural
Development, Luck Now During The First Week Of November 2007.
3
Id At 2
in the New York Times that “access to formal credit has narrowed, the power of moneylenders,
who charge at least 24 percent annual interest, has grown” 4

From 1991 to 2001, the indebtedness of farmers has grown by two times. (26% of farm
households in 1991 to 48.6% in 2001). In Andhra Pradesh, 82% of farm households are indebted
which is highest in the country.5 A majority of the cotton farmers who died in Andhra Pradesh
alone have left behind a family of five and an unpaid debt averaging Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000 6.
This shows how bad the situation is in the country. Indebtedness necessarily leads to economic
downfall, but when repayment is difficult and the household may resort to sale of assets(mainly
involves life stock) .

K .Vasavi7 , recoding of a case finding in Hassan district of Karnataka, of middle-aged

agriculturist, who in an effort to give up his caste occupation of toddy tapping had taken to
agriculture. The declining water table and the drought in 2003 had laid his fields barren and the
amounts he had borrowed to sink a well on his land had grown in compound rates. Unable to
bear the periodic visits of his creditors to his village and home and their taunts and demands, he
hung himself on a tree in his land . 8This has been the position of many other such farmers in
India. Depressingly on average, there has been one farmer suicide every 30 minutes since 2002.9

The agriculture in the United States is highly subsided, in India the scene is the other way
around, most of the subsidies have been cut down10 and also Agriculture credit became a low
priority, with some committees suggesting withdrawal of credit support to farmers. Credit for
housing and buying a car is available at 9 to 11 per cent rate of interest while the crop loans to
farmers fetch a hefty interest of 17 per cent.11 This brings us to our send point on lack of
government support. In India the government started a process of economic liberalization in
1991, which aimed at a more free-market oriented economic model. Anti-globalizers like Sainath
blame economic liberalization for the agrarian crisis in India. This could be seen mainly in the
cotton market where the import duties have been lifted at the cost of the domestic markets.

4
Debts And Drought Drive India's Farmers To Despair , World , The New York Times .Published: June 06, 2004
(Also Available At (Http://Www.Nytimes.Com/2004/06/06/World/Debts-And-Drought-Drive-India-S-Farmers-To-
Despair)
5
P. Sainath, „Farmers Suicides and Way Forward‟, Rytu Swarajya Vedhika and Tv9 on 8th January, 2011 at Jubilee
Hall, Hyderabad.
6
Devinder Sharma , Farmer's Suicides, Saturday, January 24, 2004, Http://Www. Zcommunications .Org/Farmers-
Suicides-By-Devinder-Sharma (Visited 13th May , 2012 At 5 Pm)
7
A.R. Vasavi, National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc Campus Bangalore.
8
A.R. Vasavi, Suicides and the Making of India‟s Agrarian Distress , paper for the seminar- „Agrarian Distress and
Farmers‟ Suicides in India‟ organized by the Governance and Policy Spaces Project (GAPS) of the Centre for
Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad and held at Acharya Nagarujuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh ( 24
to 26th February 2005) .
9
P. Sainath, 17,060 Farm Suicides In One Year , ,Front Page, The Hindu , Thursday, Jan 31, 2008
10
K. Nagaraj , “Farmers‟ Suicides In India: Magnitudes, Trends And Spatial Patterns “ ,Madras Institute Of
Development Studies ,March 2008
11
Id At 6
Cheap cotton is being dumped in the markets and reducing the price for the domestically
produced cotton.

In Kerala, Wayanad produces a very high quality of pepper which fetched Rs. 270 a kg. A few
years prior to 2005. But the price of this pepper plummeted to Rs. 60 a kg by 2005. Vanilla
crashed from Rs. 4000 to Rs. 130 a kg. Cardamom price also dropped by around 75% over the
same period.12 The entire district has lost around rs.10000 cores in five years in total. Out of all
spices, pepper economy has been really big. It is estimated that for pepper and coffee together,
the loss in revenue due to the price crash has been about rs.6000 cores. Imports from SAARC
countries are allowed at zero present duty. Consequently low grade Sri Lankan pepper has
swamped the market. Imported pepper is mixed with the high grade Wayanad pepper and sold in
the Indian market. The inflow of low-priced pepper has brought down the market price of pepper
from Rs. 27,000 a quintal to Rs. 5000 a quintal in 2004.13 The massive drop in price has had an
enormous adverse effect on the revenue earned by farmers. This has pushed up their debt levels.
Deep in debt, farmers try to cut losses by curtailing production, which thrusts them, deeper into
penury. Taking one‟s own life in such times appeared too many as the best choice available to
escape harassment from banks and moneylenders again leading to the problem of credit.

Lack of irrigation facilities is another major cause for the suicides. As said earlier in the paper,
the agriculture is call as the gamble of monsoons. There is clearly a lack of proper Irrigational
facilities. Whenever there is a failure of monsoons, there is failure of crop. This is the scenario in
most parts of the country. This is mainly because there is no concentration on micro irrigational
projects which are more effective. Lack of irrigational facilities would lead to failure of crops.
Crop loss can also happen due to excessive untimely rain, say, during the time of harvest. Further
Crop failure can lead to economic downfall and make it difficult to repay existing loans.

Crop failures occur mainly due to lack of water, over utilization of pesticides & insecticides. Soil
fertility is dying because of extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides; this is a major crisis for
decreasing yields in Punjab.14. This mainly is because there is lack of proper education to the
farming community, as the existing society dint need such a kind of technical know-how. Farmer
has regularly lost crops to drought, dry wells and pests in the past seven years. The farmers has
stopped farming cotton, because of pests, this drove hundreds of farmers to suicide in Warangal,
another of the state's districts.15 The cash crops in the region of Andhra &Maharashtra are largely
cultivated under poor agronomic conditions, with low levels of irrigation. This type of diversity,

12
The Sanhati Collective , “ Farmer Suicides In India: A Policy-Induced Disaster Of Epic Proportions” , January 15,
2012 (Http://Sanhati.Com/Excerpted/4504/ , Visited On 13th May , 2012 At ,7pm)
13
Id
14
Id At 5
15
Id At 4
dictated by backwardness and adversity, hardly makes for any stability; if anything, it adds to
instability and vulnerability 16

All the above factors add on to an increase in the costs of cultivation. With the advent of
Multinational Companies (MNC‟s), which also brought the high yield variety seeds (HYV), into
the Indian seed market there has been a huge leap in the prices of the seeds and fertile. As noted
by Mr. Srinath17 , in 1991, local seeds in Vidarbha costed around 90Rs. / Kg. and hybrid costs
around 300Rs. /Kg. Bt. Seeds in 2005 costs more than 4,000Rs. The cost of cultivation has
grown disastrously18. If you look at Vidarbha region(highest suicides amongst cotton farmers),
inputs for one acre of unirrigated cotton farm costs around 3,000 to 4,000 Rs in the year 2003-
2004 and the cost for an irrigated farmer was 8,000 Rs. Currently, input cost for unirrigated land
is around 15,000 to 18,000Rs. And irrigated costs around 40,000Rs. The official data given by
Institute of Cotton Research and other advisory boards, says that per hectare yield in 2010 is
around 483 kg (Bt. Cotton) the Normal hybrid yield is 463 kg (without BT). The input cost has
risen by 500% but the production has increased only by 20 kg. 19. This shows how much the costs
have risen. And this an unnecessary cost which the society is paying a result of the
liberalization.

High cost of credit should not be omitted; the cost of borrowing from both informal & formal
institutions also is high, as a reason cost of cultivation is also going up. As mentioned earlier, by
a substantial cut in the subsided in the fertilizers and other inputs, the cost of cultivation again
has gone up over the past 2. Lack of information regarding the usage of pesticides and fertilisers
also increases the cost of cultivation as in view for more harvest the farmers use fertilisers
unnecessarily. This is nothing but a national waste and also an environmental degradation, and
Environmental pollution. By Exploitation of natural resources (water, forest) the flora and the
fauna of the local area is also getting disturbed. Best example for this is vanishing of certain
species of insects which help for the pollination of seeds.

With the change from the traditional ways of farming to capital-intensive and modern ways the
of farming the society and the environment are not being able to cope up with the changes.
Monocultures , which is planting the same kind of crop year after year, degrades the quality of
the soil which increase the risk of crop failure , as diverse seeds adapted to diverse to eco-system
are replaced by the rushed introduction of uniformity and often untested seeds into the market.

16
K. Nagaraj, “Farmers‟ Suicides in India: Magnitudes, Trends and Spatial Patterns “, Madras Institute of
Development Studies, March 2008.
17
Id At5
18
In 1991, one could buy a Kilogram of Local Seed for As Little As Rs.7 or Rs.9 in Today‟s Worst Affected Region
of Vidarbha. By 2003, One Would Pay Rs.350 — ($7) — For A Bag with 450 Grams of Hybrid Seed. By 2004,
Monsanto‟s Partners in India Were Marketing A Bag of 450 Grams of Bt Cotton Seed For Between Rs.1,650 And
Rs.1,800 ($33 To $36). Source By P. Sainath , Neo-Liberal Terrorism In India: The Largest Wave Of Suicides In
History , (Http://Agrariancrisis.In/2009/02/13/Neo-Liberal-Terrorism-In-India-The-Largest-Wave-Of-Suicides-In-
History/)
19
Id At 5
Adding to the above is the Lack of increasing in the prices of agricultural products compare to
agricultural inputs. With the prices being so low the farmers from different regions of the country
are dumping their harvest on the roads a sign of protest. Very often we come across articles in
the newspapers saying “Potato going for Re 1 a kilo, farmers dump crop on roads” 20, “Chili
farmer sets fire to produce Was offered Rs.400 per quintal” 21 , “Farmers dump load of tomatoes
on the road -Tomato growers were not getting their investment back due to lack of remunerative
price”22.These news bits show the divested situation of farmers in India. Even for products like
cotton, by opening up the domestic markets, the price of cotton has gone down. This led to such a state
that the farmers would be well off if they did not harvest the crop at all.

The society has changed it course. From what it was since the historic times, due to the latest neo
liberal policies of the government as an effect of the Green Revolution and commercial forms of
agriculture, the caste-based social bases of production have been largely retained while the
support and sustenance that could have been provided during times of crisis under the patron-
client systems have disintegrated23. Further new entrants into agriculture, are the members of low
ranked communities are marginalized and face hostility from the dominant landed castes. Not
only is knowledge not shared by the upper castes with the new entrants but there is also intense
competition between agriculturists. This competition among themselves and the lack of adequate
understanding of the new knowledge gleaned from marketing agencies has led to disastrous
consequences. The details about agriculturists using excess fertilisers and pesticides in their
fields and of not knowing how to deal with outbreaks of pests are indicative of this 24

Another major change in the society is the Breaking down of joint families into nuclear
households. Because of which a single person bears the risk that arise from debts, growing new
crops, or ensuring good sale prices are all burdens on a single individual. By the individualizing
in the of new agriculture scenario (without adequate State support, with new commercialized
inputs, fluctuating markets and fluctuating weather conditions) one has to bear a higher risk of
any imminent breakdowns. Withdrawn into their individualized households and families, farmers
are often unable to gauge the risk involved in engaging with an unpredictable market, varying
and unreliable climatic conditions, unreliable quality of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, and
unsure and untested forms of new agricultural practices. Loss of production, especially in the
context of the risks or burdens of debts, means that it becomes a deeply personalized loss of self..
Agriculturists with marginal landholdings had borrowed large sums at exorbitant interest rates to
purchase pump sets, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides or to have wells dug. In the face of loss of
crops from either pests or diseases or the lack of remunerative prices and the subsequent inability
to repay the debts compounded their conditions of desperation. And in many cases, the

20
Indian Express, Jalandhar, Fri Dec 02 2011
21
The Hindu , Kurnool, May 15, 2012
22
The Hindu , Kadapa, Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009
23
Id At 7
24
Mohanty, B.B and Sangeetha Shroff (2004), “Farmers‟ Suicides in Maharashtra”, Economic and Political Weekly,
32(54), Pps 5591-5598.
humiliation in front of others when they were unable to repay the loans was the last straw that
subsequently led to the act of committing suicide.25

Conclusion

As we seen from the above, the major causes are all related to the changes which took place in
the agricultural sector during the 1990. Even though these economic, social, political, individual
and environmental problems were existing before 1990, they weren‟t present at this level.
Though the wave of farmer suicides have taken place mostly in the states of Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh and Maharashtra Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh , these were the most affected states,
even the other states were effected but at not this level. Also these five states weren‟t the
beneficiaries of the green revolution as, the green revolution helped only certain crops such as
wheat and these are the crops that are now grown in these five states. The economies of Andhra
and Karnataka were the first states to liberalize. For instance microfinance systems were
introduced first in the state of Andhra. Other states such as Gujarat have adopted this system but
after learning form the back draws. We can also relate the failure of government policies to
these suicides.

On a whole the trade liberalization policies of the government , regarding opening up the
domestic agriculture markets , is a transition from the traditional structures of the Indian
agriculture , which can be referred to as a path breaking step. But the cost which the society is
paying is, the life of hundreds of thousands of the farmers . And the development which took
place is at the cost of farmers and the degradation of their lives.

The graph-1 shows the huge increase in the change in the suicide rate among the farmers in the major
states of India.

26

25
It at 7.
26
Source ( http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/45-farmers-commit-suicide-each-day-india )
 Figure -2 show the suicides in in
various states of India.

(Source – values from, accidental

deaths & suicides in India 2010,
national crime records bureau
ministry of home affairs government)

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